False Hop Sedge, Carex lupuliformis

False Hop Sedge (Carex lupuliformis) is now blooming. This species is often found in floodplain forests and wetlands of Florida throughout the Eastern US all the way to Eastern Canada1,2. Members of the Carex genus (sometimes called Carices) have interesting flowers that are often overlooked. False Hop Sedge has both male and female inflorescences, as visible in the following photo.
Flowering False Hop Sedge, Carex lupuliformis. Photo by A. Murray © University of Florida
C. lupuliformis was described in 1848 by physician-botanist Henry Sartwell3 and was published in 1850 by botanist and anti-slavery activist Chester Dewey4.  It is vouchered for 46 out of the 67 counties in Florida.
Fruiting False Hop Sedge, Carex lupuliformis. Photo CC BY-NC-SA Mary Keim. Along the Econlockhatchee River at the Econlockhatchee Sandhills Conservation Area. April 2013.
It has been documented in iNaturalist along Arbuckle Creek, the Myakka River, the Econlockhatchee River, Trout Creek (Hillsborough), the Hillsborough River, Tootoosahatchee Creek, Long Branch (Orange), the Fakahatchee Strand, Sixmile Cypress Slough (Lee County), the St. Johns River, in the Natural Areas Teaching Laboratory at UF, Clear Lake (Alachua), and more.
False Hop Sedge, Carex lupuliformis, growing in standing water. Photo CC BY-NC Sherry Nigro. In Six Mile Cypress Slough, Lee County. February 2019.

False Hop Sedge is within the Lupulinae section of the Carex genus5, which mean that it is closely related to the other hoppy-looking sedges in Florida: Giant Sedge (C. gigantea), Gray's Sedge (C. grayi), Bladder Sedge (C. intumescens), Louisiana Sedge (Carex louisianica), and Hop Sedge (C. lupulina).

False Hop Sedge is listed as threatened or endangered in several US states and Canada6. Habitat loss occurs with the modification and destruction of floodplains.

References

[1] Curtis, Linda. 2013. Carex: Where are they? The Palmetto. 30:4, p. 12-14 link
[2] USDA. 2019. Carex lupuliformis Sartwell ex Dewey false hop sedge. PLANTS Database. link
[3] Sartwell, H. 1848. Carices Americae septentrionalis exsiccatae.
[4] Dewey, C. 1850. Caricography - No. 241. C. lupuliformis, Sartwell. American Journal of Science and Arts. 9:29. p. 29. link
[5] Simpson, et al. 2007. Phylogeny of Cyperaceae Based on DNA Sequence Data - a New rbcL Analysis. Alisco 23, p. 72-83. link
[6] NatureServe. 2019. Carex lupuliformis Sartwell ex Dewey False Hop Sedge. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 7.0. NatureServe, Arlington, VA. U.S.A. Available http://explorer.natureserve.org. (Accessed: 2019-03-23)

Further reading


Curtis, Linda. 2008. Sedges - Do we know them? The Palmetto. 25:2, p. 4-7. link
Hill, S.R. 2006. Conservation Assessment for the False Hop Sedge (Carex lupuliformis Sartwell ex Dewey). Illinois Natural History Survey. link
UF/IFAS CAIP. 2019. Carex lupuliformis. link
False Hop Sedge (Carex lupuliformis). iNaturalist link
Matson, Chris. 2009. Graminoids (Families Poaceae, Juncaceae and Cyperaceae). The Univeristy of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. link

by Valerie Anderson, staff | email

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